Improvement in scraping- disk or wad for ordnance car



of india-rubber.

J. M. OONNEL, 0F NEWARK, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT INECRAPING: DISK OR WAD FOR ORDNANCE CAR- TRIDGES.

Specification formingpari; of Letters Patent No. 45,227, dated Woumber29, 1864.

To all whom it may concern 'Be it known that I, JAMES M; GONNEL, ofNewark, county of Licking, State of Ohio, have invented a new andImproved Cartridge for Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing bad to the accompanying drawings, making a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 isa diametrical section through theimproved ordnance cartridge, having ascraper applied withiujit. Fig. 2is an external View of the cartridge. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are viewsshowingthe construction of the scraper which is contained within theimproved cartridge.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the severalfigures.

The object of my invention is to construct ordnance cartridges, orpowder-bags, as they are commonly termed, of a material which will beimpervious to water, and at the same time of such character as will notignite, or leave sparks in the gun after the discharge, as will behereinafter described. Another ob jeet of my invention is to applywithin ordnancc powder-bags a device which will prevent the gun fromfouling, and thus render it unnecessary to frequently swab the gunduring active service, as will be hereinafterdescribed.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willdescribe its construction and operation.

Cartridge-cases, or powder-bags, which contain the charges of powder forordnance are generally made up of woolen bags of a ey'lin drical form,adapted o the size of the guns for which they are intent ed. The objectof using wool in the manufactureof the powder-bags is to prevent sparksfrom being left in the gun after the discharge; and as woolen materialis less liable to ignite, or retain its fire, than many othersubstances, it is therefore used, for the want of a better material.Wool is not so liable to-ignite as cotton; still, accidents frequentlyoccur in consequence of the premature discharge of cannon, caused inmost instances by a spark of. fire in the gun. Instead of this woolenmaterial I employ bags which are made The bags are made of the proper'form and site, according'to the differentsized -,eharges required forthe same or for different guns, and then filled with powder and securedor sealed by drawing one end together and wrapping it with fine wire ortwine, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, in which a represents anindia-rubber water-proof envelope which is made of one piece, filledwith powder, and sealed with the wire I), or in any othersuitablemanner. These bags may be readily made by spreading the rubber, while ina soft condition, over suitable molds, in the usual manner of makingthin rubber bags for other purposes. It will be necessary to have theopen ends of the bags ofsullicient pliability to allow of these endsbeing drawn tightly together when the bags are filled with powder andsecured as above described. The advantage in the use of the rubber forordnance charges is, that the powder will be preserved intact frommoisture or dampness; and, while these bags areimpcrmeable to water,they are perfectly safe, so far as preventing powder contained in themfrom premature explosion or taking fire through carelessness of personsvisiting a magazine with fire. As a. safeguardagainstprematureexplosions of can non during rapid firing, my rubber powderbags aresuperior to woolen or other fabrics, for the reason that the rubbercannot be readily ignited, nor will it leave sparks of fire in thecannon after the discharge.

l'nclosed within the breech-end of thepowderbag a, I have represented ascraper which is intended for scraping the interior surface of thegunfrom one end to the other at every discharge,-thus preventing the gunfrom fouling to a great extent, and also obviating the necessity of afrequent use of the swab. This scraper consists of two circularconcave-convex disks 0 c, united together by a rivet, d, in such manneras to form the annular groove or chainberc. The edges of the two plates0 care turned over, as indicated at gg,Figs. 1,3, and

5, so as to form rings or cylinderswhich, when the powder is ignited inthe gun, are forced outward against the interior surface of the gun, andin this condition discharged therefrom. The length of the forward ring 9may be very much increased, if desired, and this will keep the'scraperin its proper position during its passage into and out of the gun.

It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1 that the powder is on both sidesof the scraper, and thatthereisnoneinthechambere'. Thepowder which is inthe breech of the bag a communicates with that which is forward of thescraper; hence, when the powder in the gun is ignited, the pressure ofconfined gases will partially collapse the sides of chamber e,and thusexpand the scraper against the walls of the gun,

.so'that the forward edges of the portions 9 g will scrape and clean thegun, as above stated. When the rubber-gum bags 41 are filled with powderand furnished with the scrapers herein described, and then firmlysecured at one end, i as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the contents of thebags will be tightly held in place by the contraction of the elastic bagaround them. Now, as the rubber bags are stretched tightly, it will beseen that when these bags are punctured in the gun by the vent-needle,the rubber will instantly contract and expose the powder to the spark ofthe percussion-cap. This is another advantage attending the use ofrubber for ordnance powder-bags.

A special advantage appertains to the-use of an elastic sack or bag, asdescribed, in that the sack will yield and conform to the-pressure uponit in the act of. ramming the charge home.

without a liabilityto rupture the same.

It should be stated that the metal of which my scraper is composedshould be softer than the metal composing the piece of ordnance in whichsaid scraper is to be used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters J. M. OONNEL.

Witnesses:

L. J. HAUGHEY, HENRY I. KING.

